med wonders in getting her soldiers overseas, England
provided most of the ships, and that it was England's Navy which kept
the German Navy in check while America's war vessels and destroyers
convoyed the troopships and protected them from the submarines.

CHAPTER XXX.

VICTORY--PEACE.

THE GERMAN EMPIRE COLLAPSES--FOCH'S STRATEGY WINS--AMERICAN INSPIRATION
A BIG FACTOR--BULGARIA, TURKEY AND AUSTRIA QUIT WAR--MONARCHS FALL---
KAISER ABDICATES AND FLEES GERMANY--ARMISTICE SIGNED--NOVEMBER 11,
PEACE.

Then came the fall of autocracy--

Victory! Peace!

With a crash that echoed around the world the autocratic governmental
structure builded by the Kaiser and his forebears gave way and came
tumbling to the earth in ruins on Monday, November 11, 1918.

The most momentous event in ages had come to pass and victory was
perched upon the banner of democracy.

Out of the sacrifice of millions of lives, the desolation of homes and
countries, the expenditure of untold energy and incomprehensible
billions of dollars in money, there came everlasting, glorious peace.

The great German Empire lay a wreck, given into the hands of the people
for remaking, and the arrogant Emperor William Hohenzollern had fled
into Holland, and his example was imitated by the Crown Prince.

THE COMING OF THE END.

The end came swiftly and with dramatic action. Beaten back by the Allied
forces, which gathered strength and inspiration from the irresistible
American troops, the German army weakened all along the line from
Holland to the Swiss border. The press of power exerted against the
German strongholds on every side was felt within the domains and
produced internal strife and dissension which undermined and weakened
the military organization. Taking full advantage of this situation, the
Allied forces on every side quickened and intensified their blows.

The brilliant strategy of Marshal Foch, generalissimo of the Allied
armies, brought defeat to the Germans in less than four months. After
bringing to an end the German advance of March 21 to July 18 with the
second battle of the Marne, he compelled a hurried retirement to the
Hindenburg line with the evacuation of practically all the territory
conquered by the Huns.

Finally, in what may be termed the last phase of the war, he absolutely
demoralized the German forces. The thrust in this phase was started by
the Anglo-Belgian forces in Flanders and the Franco-American armies in
L